It had been a hard transition from life in the Midwest to living in what was known to the rest of the world as the middle of nowhere, but Persephany found the solitude comforting. The only person she knew in town was Lucas Jackson, a local musical legend. But Lucas was more than he seemed. Persephany had met him back in Illinois during her senior year of high school. He had been hired to play at the senior prom and was there when the murders began. The yearbook had been delivered two days before prom and it was the day after that people within one of the pictures began dying one by one. Persephany never had many friends in school but one of the only people who treated her kindly was in that picture: Natalie Evans. Persephany was not about to let anything happen to her.
Persephany had learned long ago how to stay under the radar, so had no trouble keeping her head down while investigating the killings, only to find Lucas looking into the same thing. This was when things got weird. He was like her. Weird. Strange. Magical. He was in fact a very powerful wizard who used his music to do some amazing things and he could tell Persephany was too. Together they were able to stop the vengeful spirit that was killing the people in the picture. Lucas had become a close trusted friend in the short time they spent together and had told her that if she was ever in Rapid City, to look him up.
So, when she sent out applications for college, she was sure to put one in for South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. The acceptance letter came at about the same time as a major break down where Persephany, due to stress of finals, family, and peers at school, had dropped an F5 tornado on the lawn in front of the high school. So South Dakota sounded like a great place to be far away from the Warden rumored to be stationed in Chicago. Especially since said warden was rumored to be investigating that bizarre F5 tornado that occurred on a calm sunny day.
It had been a long day of work and Persephany was getting just a few minutes to relax and devour a pile of ribs at The Firehouse Restaurant. Lucas was on stage doing his regular set, joking and just having a good time entertaining the crowd. The seating area outside was full, but the seating inside was impossible, so when the waitress asked if she could seat another man at Persephany's table, she only nodded with a mouth full of rib. The man who walked up was not so much tall as he was incredibly imposing. His hair was dark; his eyes had an odd sparkle of green, and the air, which was already warm, heated up several more degrees as he approached. With a smile, he took a seat and calmly ordered drinks for both himself and the small woman across from him. Persephany had seen all the PSA about accepting drinks from strangers so she was very careful to drink it very, very slowly and with other things.
Both watched Lucas continue his set, when in the middle of one of his songs the man tried to take one of Persephany's ribs. The fork flew to her hand, gently touching the back of his hand when he went for the rib. His eyes turned from the stage to settle on her while she was careful to keep her eyes looking at the tip of his nose.
"Sorry," was all that he said as he motioned for the waitress to bring another round of drinks. At the end of the song he looked up, giving Persephany a moment to follow his gaze discretely. His eyes locked with a goth looking woman standing at the fence that simply smiled and walked off. With a frown, the man got up, left some cash on the table and followed her. Simultaneously, Lucas wrapped up his set, "Thanks folks but I'm gonna take a bit of a break. Be back in five."
Persephany exchanged a look with Lucas, dropped some cash of her own on the table and walked after the man without any interruptions. Lucas headed back into The Firehouse and out the door in a different direction, while Persephany watched the man walk to Dublin Square. Once at the door he greeted the doorman by grabbing him by the collar and hauling him into the establishment. Even at her distance Persephany could hear the doorman begging for forgiveness. She crossed the cement with speed and caution, knowing now would be a bad time to be caught.
Once inside Dublin, Persephany said her hellos to the bartenders, Mitch and Troy. Once Troy had headed off to the other end of the bar, Persephany leaned into Mitch. "If I'm not back in 15 minutes come get me." A raised eyebrow and quick nod was all she got for a response before she headed down the stairs. At the bottom she found a plain hallway with several doors; the farthest of which was swinging shut. With far more skill and speed than she normally possessed, Persephany reached the door only to let it bump against the jam and hold it open so she could hear.
"You have disappointed me for the last time," the voice was hard and cold even though the air was almost shimmering with heat as it wafted out through the crack.
"No... please... I... I tried please forgive me, my Lord." The voice was strained and sounded as if the smaller man had not been set back on his feet since being hauled in by the dark haired man. What followed shook Persephany to the core. A loud ripping sound covered the smaller man's screams and protests.
"Some time in the hunt will teach you some manners." The voice was low and dangerous; the rustle of movement and stumbling steps caused Persephany to lean closer unconsciously. The sound of a zipper cut through the scream before - silence. The footsteps coming toward the door snapped Persephany back to the reality that she was about to get caught. She spun and started to investigate the wall drunkenly as the door swung open. The brilliant green eyes stopped and trained on her.
The voice was low but almost carried a hint of concern, "Can I help you?"
Persephany swung back to the man, eyes unfocused. "Who are you? Do I know you?" the words slurred.
"Yes I sat with you at The Firehouse. Are you lost?"
"I am… I might be… Why? Where am I?"
"In Dublin Square. Are you going to be alright?"
"I just need… I … just…" Persephany's mind reeled, "the bathroom. I lost it."
"Right here," he motioned to the door behind her.
"Oh! Thank you." Persephany hurried into the bathroom and began to splash the water and make sounds of refreshing someone who was hopefully looking drunk. She headed to the door to swing it open dramatically to find Mitch standing at the door looking worried.
"Oh, Mitch. Where did he go?"
"Who go?"
"The man with black hair and green eyes and why are you here?"
"You've been gone over a half hour." Persephany's eyes went wide and she started to shake. The entire encounter seemed to her to have taken only five minutes. Mitch took her by the hand and slowly led her back upstairs to where Lucas sitting at the bar talking with Troy. Mitch walked her to a chair and sat her in it then all three watched her curiously as she checked her neck, her body then her bag, which was when she realized it. The bag she had was not her own. It was close but definitely different. Thus began the confusion.
"My bag. My bag… it isn't my bag." She looked at Lucas hoping for an explanation.
"What happened?" he asked quickly.
"This guy with black hair got seated at my table at the Firehouse and ordered me a drink. Then he tried to take one of my ribs. Bastard. Then I followed him back here where he bitched out the door man, drug him down stairs… there was a ripping sound. I think the big guy pushed him… then a zipping sound. He found me in the hallway I went into the bathroom and apparently lost like 20 minutes… why… what's wrong?" her breath gave out as Lucas' eyes went a bit wide.
Lucas looked up at the office where the man with the black hair sat behind a desk.
"Oh no. Was that why he was so happy?" Lucas spoke so quietly, Persephany barely heard him.
"Who?"
"Adam," Lucas tipped his head to the office, "He owns Dublin and he came up looking very happy. Did you pay him back for the drink? Or get him something?"
"No… why?" her voice rose a bit with fear.
"Because you owe him now and he took your bag as payment."
"My bag... why …but... umm... oh huh?"
"He's a fae and a powerful one at that. They deal in favors. Don't ever accept anything from a fae." The intensity in Lucas' face made Persephany lean back.
"So, what do I do now?"
"Well, since you are new to all this maybe we can convince him to give it back to you." Persephany looked at Lucas completely lost. "And if you like I'll come with you." She nodded and Lucas led the way to the office.
He knocked rhythmically on the door and poked his head inside, "Hey Adam. How ya doin'? You remember Persephany?" He slid to the side so Persephany was standing in the door way, wide eyed and terrified. If possible the green eyes turned to emeralds that bore into Persephany - who found the tiled floor quite fascinating.
"Yes, I do, she was a wonderful dinner partner but what can I do for you?"
"Well I understand that you took her bag as payment for a favor you gave her. She would kinda like it back, so what do you say to cutting her a break?"
"You know that isn't how things work. If she wants it back she will have to give me something in exchange. And she does have such pretty doe eyes. They would look good with the rest of the doe around them." The warm room seemed to chill – worsened by the ensuing silence.
"What if I take her debt? I was the one that convinced her to come talk to you so really it is my debt to take." Adam turned his sharp green eyes to Lucas and smiled calmly. He offered a hand across the desk. Persephany stared at Lucas when he extended his hand and took Adam's. Lucas flinched with pain and looked down at the hand Adam still held.
"Than we have an accord." Adam let go of Lucas' hand and tossed the bag to Persephany from behind the desk. Once it was in her hands, she ran from the room and completely out of the bar. From outside, she heard Lucas tell the occupants of the bar "I hate the fae," as he walked out to join her.
He stopped just outside the door to see Persephany crouched and leaning against the building. Her eyes were distant and she was breathing as if she had just finished a long run. "I'm sorry," he barely heard the words coming from about his knees. Lucas dropped his hands to his sides and Persephany saw the palm of his hand. There was a raised line, like a brand, creating a picture on his flesh. It was the skull of a human with the antlers of a stag. Lucas quickly shoved his hands into his pockets.
"Maybe we better call it a night. You should probably head home." The unspoken 'before you get me into any more trouble' hung in the air as Persephany stood up without a word and started walking back to Tech campus, taking the back alleys. Half way home she stopped, dead in her tracks. She couldn't live with the idea of Lucas holding a debt for her when it was her own damn fault. Taking a deep breath she turned and headed back to Dublin Square, trying to think of what to say to Adam when she finally got there. Her headphones hung silent around her neck as she walked in her own little world and directly into a very solid object. Still looking down she examined the obstacle she had walked into. There were a pair of large boots covered by dark jeans which lead to a thick Cargill jacket covering a very solid thick chest and to top it all was a rugged face with blue eyes. She was so surprised to see a person standing there she jerked back a step.
"Umm... sorry… I didn't see you there…"that felt like a weak excuse even as the words left her mouth.
"Are you alright?" His voice rumbled low in his chest.
"Yeah. Who are you?"
"Jim. Are you lost?"
"No I'm heading back to Dublin." Persephany actually saw the man's features grow hard and almost frightening.
"I'll come with, I was headed that way myself." The two set off looking much the odd couple, Jim tall and built broadly, Persephany short and scrawny. The walk back seemed to pass much faster than the walk home and all too soon Persephany was standing in front of Dublin Square again. Taking a deep resolute breath, Persephany walked back into the bar with Jim.
Once they crossed over the door's threshold the bar went silent, all eyes on Jim. Persephany shot a look over her shoulder, "Wow you are a mood killer," she said in a stage whisper. Troy hurried from behind the bar his eyes wide as he stopped in front of Jim. He moved as if to bow.
"My lo…" A wave of a large calloused hand cut him off sharply.
"It's Jim. Just Jim." The words came out hard, but not angry. Dropping his hand he smiled at Troy, "You can go about your business. You can all go about your business." His quiet voice, loud in the silence, was engulfed again as chatter started up immediately, all eyes off Jim and yet watching him like a hawk. Jim and the small girl he came in with. Persephany could feel the attention and was done with it.
"That's it! I'm done. Never mind, I'm going home. Fuck this." Persephany restrained her arms to her sides wanting to throw her hands up in defeat. Muttering to herself she turned and stormed back out of the bar. As she walked down the sidewalk, Persephany settled her disc jockey headphones onto her ears and turned on her mp3 player, finding a loud, angry techno song.
This attempt to make it back to School of Mines campus went much better than the first one, Persephany made it all the way to the end of Kansas City Street before encountering any other obstacles. Half way up the hill, she saw a pair talking loudly in the middle of the street. One man was dressed like something out of an S&M club holding a leash while the other, well, the other wasn't really wearing all that much. Shoving a hand in her pocket, Persephany turned the music down to where she could still hear it and move in time with it but was able to hear everything that was going on around her.
"You have to come back." The Dom took another step towards the naked guy. The naked guy stood his ground.
"I don't have to go anywhere with you."
"Mistress will be displeased if you do not return so you might as well save us all some trouble and come back now." The pair stopped and just noticed Persephany as she faked noticing them for the first time.
"Oh, sorry," Persephany moved to walk around the pair.
"That's right, keep moving girly," The dom's tone turned smarmy and as Persephany walked even him, whipped her ass with the leash. She stopped dead in her tracks. Her shoulders dropping and her head rolled to look at him.
"Not tonight." She spun on her heal toward the leather clad leash holding man and flung both hands out at him screaming, "Ventas Servitas!!" The hurricane force winds swept out of her hand and flung the dom down the hill and another 3 blocks down the street. The near naked man turned to her eyes wide.
"I thought your kind kept that stuff to themselves."
"Your kind?" Anger lashed out of her words and several street lights exploded. The man held his hands up in placation. In those few moment, the dom was back up and standing in front of Persephany.
"Bad move bitch." The dom started to move at her, moving at normal speed only to be intercepted by the nearly naked man, who was no longer nearly naked. In fact, he was now neither naked nor a man. He stood nearly 7 feet tall and resembled a bat with long wings more than a man. His skin looked as if it had been torn away and underneath was a dark leathery hide. The two… men?. . .moved lightning fast as they tore into each other. The dom suddenly shifted his attention to Persephany and lashed a foot out at her face. By the time, she saw it coming, she was already on the ground, her head spinning. The bat man delivered one final blow as the dom attention was diverted that sent him again down the street.
"Leave now because I am not coming with you." The bat man stood between the dom and Persephany. The dom got up snarling and disappeared.
"Ow." Persephany slowly sat up to see the bat man reverting back to some shape of human form. Naked. Completely naked. "Oh," she turned pink and looked down.
"Are you alright?"
"I really wish people would stop asking me that. You need pants. Stay here." Persephany kept her eyes down as she pulled out her keys and walked into her dorm. The place was dark and quiet which made walking out with the pink booty pants with the word Juicy on the ass. Thank god for dumb forgetful, dropout, roommates. She walked back outside and handed them to the man.
"I'm Steph."
"Kel." He took the pants and slipped into the without another word.
"Do you have someplace to go?"
"Not really…"
"That's what I figured. You can stay here but I swear to you I will kill you if you try anything." Persephany leaned in close, driving one finger into his chest. He just nodded silently and followed her around the building to the girl's wing door. As she led him down the hall to her room, the wireless router on the wall made a pitiful fizzing noise and Persephany could already hear the complaints come the next morning when the internet didn't work.
Once in her room, she grabbed her pjs, toothbrush, and tooth paste and headed to the bathroom with one sharp look at Kel. She quickly changed, brushed her teeth, and returned to find Kel sitting on the bed on the floor.
"You can sleep there but I swear, if you try anything I will make you hurt so much." She turned off the light and climbed up to her loft, dropping off to sleep faster than she anticipated.
Morning came and Persephany woke with a jolt from a far too vivid dream of running for her life and looked down at the second bed to find it empty. There was a note on the pillow with the words 'thank you' scratched on it. Sighing, she got up and got ready for work. And the day at work was frighteningly normal. First Chance Last Chance Gaming was busy as usual and Persephany spent the first half of the day restocking shelves and staying away from the registers. Maybe an hour till close, she was in the back stock room when she heard Jin yell her name from the front of the house.
"Persephany, some one to see you." She emerged from the back to see Lucas standing in the D&D section paging through a book with a manila folder under his arm. She walked over, her arms full of books to be stocked and smiled at him.
"Hey, what's with the sudden visit?" As much as Persephany was used to hanging out with Lucas, First Chance Last Chance Gaming was one of the few places she was not used to seeing him.
"Adam wanted to talk." He waited until she had found homes for all the books then handed her the folder. She opened it to the face of a young man on a silver table, his eyes closed. The next photo was of the same man, his eyes wide with pain, lying on the ground covered in blood. She slammed the folder shut as hard as you can shut a paper folder.
"And? What doesn't he want, exactly?" She handed the folder back to Lucas. Her face blank. That was more blood than she ever wanted to see even if it was only in a picture.
"He wants to know who killed him. It's odd but he looks kinda familiar." Lucas opened the folder again and looked at the first picture. "He was found near a bridge by Prairie Market. But I thought all the bridges where controlled by the trolls of the area."
"Trolls? Whatcha' guys talking about?" Jin had walked up behind Persephany. She spun to face him, standing between him and Lucas, who shut the folder again.
"Oh, it's just this new RPG based on this book series. It's all set in modern day and has a lot of fantastical type elements. Ya' know, wizards and faeries, and trolls… lots of stuff," Persephany supplied quickly, Lucas nodding quickly behind her.
"Oh, never heard of it," Jin looked confused.
"It's still in testing. Hey it's pretty quiet, would it be okay if I headed out early to get some work done at home?" She smiled sweetly, not that it mattered.
"Yeah, but I better see you tomorrow," Jin waved as she headed out with Lucas.
Lucas comes to whos tells about question
Go to Paddy's
Go to bridge
Go back to dublin
Lucas, Kel, and Steph walked up to the door of Dublin and were greeted by a barrier that was the new doorman. "You can't come in." The words he spoke to Lucas were final and left no space for questions but that did not stop Lucas.
"What? Why not? Doesn't Adam want answers or was he just jerking me around?" Lucas took a step forward only to impact an out stretched hand.
"YOU" he looked pointedly at Lucas, "can not come in. She however," he turned his sharp gaze to Persephany, "can. You have been black listed, bub."
Lucas pointed at Kel, "What about him?" The doorman only shrugged. "I don't even know who he is, so sure he can go in." Persephany looked at Kel, who's face was neutral as they walked into the bar. Persephany had to take the led into Adam's office, putting her directly in front of his desk once Kel walked in behind her. They stood there a moment in silence, Adam's eyes weighed heavy on Persephany but she was too busy discovering words in the carpet.
"Persephany, when did you start dealing with Adam?" The words broke the silence like a bullet through glass. Her eyes jerked up to Adam then down to his desk where on the very cluttered desk, a very old looking piece of parchment with her name very carefully written in a delicate script at the top. Her eyes went wide and she started to shake.
"Oh, that. That is for later." He shuffled the papers on the desk carefully. "Now, what do you want?" His eyes bore into Persephany again as she began to stutter. It took thirty seconds for Kel to start talking over her.
"We think it was the Vampire who has taken over the bridge near where Allister was found. Do you have any idea why a vampire would want to hurt you?"
"It was a vampire…" his eyes grew cold and hard, "a vampire did this?" The tone in his voice caused Persephany to jump back slightly where she stood. "I need names. I need more information. Anything else you have to tell me?" Silence followed. "Good. Now to other business at hand." The papers on his desk shuffled again and the contract appeared in his hands on a clean desk. He looked up and into Persephany's eyes, she looked down quickly. He spun the paper to face her so she could begin to read the contract.
…will hold in servitude until the completion of tasks as requested…
The world began to tunnel as she stared at the words. The too clean aged parchment made her eyes begin to water and the world spin. She sat down hard into one of the two chairs in the small office.
"You know as well as I," his words were soft, almost gentle, "the debt that Lucas holds, is not his burden to bear. It's yours. You are the one that put him in this position of servitude to me. However, you have the power to change that. I will give you a change to remove the weight from his shoulders. Be that all of his burden, part of it, or you have the right to refuse this opportunity." He slowly pushed the paper toward the edge of the desk.
Persephone stared at the contract and then without turning to Kel, "Get out." The two words came out soft but more sure than any she had spoken in this office before. The tall man shrugged, got up and left. Her eyes never left the paper.
"You can take one question or you can take both." Adam paused, "or you can walk out of this office. Your choice," His eyes wandered over her with hunger and a hint of desire but she did not notice as hers eyes remained on the contract. The words were written in such an elegant script that only some lines were truly legible but at the bottom there was a line with her name underneath it.
Two of the questions… she could remove two of the questions from Lucas' debt.
"You would have to promise that Lucas would be free from your service after he finishes this task for you." Steph said quietly.
"You have my word as a Sidhe." He held out a fountain pen to her. Her fingers took it, steady and touched it to the paper. The ink that soaked into the paper was a deep blood red and on there was pain from the palm of her hand as she finished writing her name across the line.
Outside, Lucas gasped for air then drew in the first full breath he had since shaking hands with Adam. It was as if a great pressure had been released. His eyes jumped to his palm where the skull and antlers remained but fainter.
Persephany did not wait to let the ink dry on the page. She pushed the paper back at Adam, with a small gust of wind sending it into his chest as she turned to run from the room. She made it two steps towards the door when she heard the word behind her.
"Stop." The command was short and sharp and she had no intentions of listening. When her feet stopped. She looked down, her heart beating out of her chest as he walked up behind her. "Remember, we have a deal and you have one week." Suddenly, her feet wanted to move again and she finished her sprint out of the office. The few patrons in the bar turned as she ran past, long black hair flying behind her. She stopped short at the door, took a deep breath, and tried to walk out calmly.
"We have one week," she said without preamble, not looking at Lucas or Kel. A flare of burning pain shot up her arm from her right hand and she gasped in pain, trying to hide it as just stretching her shoulder. She knew she had not fooled anyone as Lucas moved to stand before her.
"What did you do, Persephany?" the words were soft and concerned. He took her right wrist in his hand and held it up, moving against her resistance looked at her palm to see two large pack dogs etched similarly on her hand, one stalking its prey the other leaping in attack. He sighed heavily and looked at her with sad eyes. She met his eyes for a moment the looked away.
"We have a week."
Go to paddys to find jim
Gets approached by martin in deeper that we know
Head to spearfish to see dragline
Martin and Adam both show up adam because of martin, martin because dragline framed him Adam takes and throws into the hunt
Head back to brenda's house
Get sick brendas godfather heal
create spell
lead pestilence to tunnels under tech
bind him to a door
week passes famine
It had been a long week and Persephany headed down to Paddy's to catch Lucas' regular set. She took the long way down town, so was able to catch Lucas in between sets. He was at the table with Just Jim, Hanna, and Marcus so she dropped into an empty chair at the table. She smiled at the group, happy to be out of the dorms.
"Hey." She greeted the table. Hanna smiled back.
"Looks like your having a better week, just watch out. there are two wardens staying in town. Ones\'s actually at my place. Might be best to lay low." Hanna took a pull from her glass as Lucas headed back up to the stage to start he next set.
"Yeah you're probably right." Persephany agreed. Not a second later but a very young looking man walked in.
"Shit. That's Tim. He's one of the wardens." Before she was finished with the sentence, Persephany was up and into the bathroom. She waited for a few minutes for the rest of the group to pull him into conversation then tried to make a run for the door.
"Then Persephany walked out the door," rose in the music just as she reached for the handle. Lucas had of course made his normal commentary about his friends and their actions. She could feel the brush of something against her as she pushed out and headed down the street quickly, only to hear the footsteps coming after her.
"Stop!" The voice sounds so young but she keep going.
Another night at paddys
Meet tim asked steph to join white councle denies powers
Jim gets into a fight in back alley guys bring him to brendas
Leave hammer
In morning jim asks for but is missing
Tim makes comment steph spins
Brenda leaves
back to brendas house has hammer
war shows up
half hour till fight H/L make potion S/T make potion
Jim and war fight
war gets stronger as fight goes on pulls off jims arm
throes into house
It was a cold, crisp winter day and the knock at the door nearly shook the house off its foundation. Hanna rolled her eyes, headed to the door and opened it to find a broadly grinning One Armed Jim holding a very large axe.
"Who wants to go get Christmas trees?" Hanna's eyes lit up and she grabbed her jacket. Persephany dropped the little whirl wind she had been holding in her hand and grabbed her jacked.
"Can I come too?"
"Everyone is welcome." It only took a few minutes to assemble everyone, including the reluctant vampire, Marcus, and load them into Jim's truck. And with all the wizards holding their collective breath, they arrived in the hills in short order. Jim led the motley crew through the trees to find the perfect 8 foot tall tree, only to drop it with 2 swings of his axe. Hanna was likewise rewarded with a smaller but still perfect 5 foot tall tree and even Persephany got a little foot and a half tree for her dorm room. The group was heading back to the truck laughing, noses and cheeks pink, breath visible as they joked when Persephany stopped in her tracks.
Her hand itched. Then from behind her, the ripping sound rung through the hills sending a shock down her spine. She turned to see the breach in reality and a naked man fall to the snow shaking and bleeding.
It was Dragline. Lucas, who was walking behind Persephany, took a step back as Dragline landed at his feet. The beaten man looked up and grated, "Please, help me," as he fell unconscious.
"WHAT? No… NO.. fuck you.. " Lucas paced then stopped and picked him up, "Fuck." He continued walking back to the truck only to stop and see Persephany sitting in the snow shaking. He turned to Marcus and just motioned to her with a nod. Marcus nodded and picked her up as if she was a doll. Before they reached the truck, Persephany had freed herself from Marcus and was walking along beside them.
"If you could drop me off at my place Jim," Lucas said to the back of the seat.
"I'm coming with you," Persephany stated flatly. The rest of the drive was tense and far too long.
The truck stopped in front of Lucas' apartment and carefully pulled Dragline out with Persephany's help. She ran ahead to open the street door then headed up the stairs to get the main door. She quickly found the correct key and opened the door and stopped short finding an older man standing in the middle of the room.
"LUCAS!" She yelled back down the steps. He came around a corner and walked into the apartment and looked at the man.
"Wizard Jackson," Lucas said formally.
"Good to see you too Lucas."
"I really wish you would call before you drop by like this dad."
"Dad?" Persephany looked at the older man. The eyes were different but the nose sloped the same and the chin was very similar. The man turned and scrutinized Persephany closely.
"About time you found someone." His voice was full of pride and Persephany turned pink.
"Dad! This is Persephany, she's like a sister to me," Lucas shook his head the best he could with Dragline draped across his shoulders, turned heading into the bed room, leaving Persephany and Wizard Jackson alone in the living room.
The older man headed to the small kitchen and started making noise. "Lucas this kitchen is horribly under stocked. I can't even offer your guest anything to drink."
"I wouldn't take it, I learned that lesson already."
"What? Why?"
From the bed room Lucas answered, "Bad experience with the fae." Wizard Jackson walked out with three cups of tea and held out of to Persephany, apparently having not heard Lucas.
"Would you like some tea?"
"No thanks. Like I said, learned this already."
"I'm not fae."
"Don't care!" Persephany dropped onto the couch watching the man carefully. "Let me guess, White Council right?"
"Yes I am." He straightened up a bit, a little smile on his lips.
"Good to know. I'm not with the Council and I'm not going to join. Don't ask." Her arms went across her chest and she stared at his forehead hard, eyes narrowed. The smile dropped and his eyes went wide, then narrowed in suspicion. "If your son doesn't have to join, I don't see why I should have to. All you people do is meddle and fuck things up."
"Young lady, you really have no idea what you are talking about."
"I've seen more in this town then I bet you have in most of your life so back off." The door took this moment of verbal warfare to explode open with three zombies falling into the apartment while another five burst in through the windows. Persephany jumped to her feet and came shoulder to shoulder with Jackson. She swept an arm down then thrust it at the three at the door and they barely noticed the breeze that swept gently past them. Jackson looked at her and shook his head.
"Amateur," He didn't seem to move but suddenly two zombies at the window exploded into a small pool of gore and dead bits. The three at the door soon followed into true oblivion as Wizard Jackson stood next to Persephany, breath becoming a bit more labored. She looked at him eyes wide, though her pride was still stinging from the amateur comment. The older man looked up at the ceiling, raising his hand he shot a stream of fire directly through to the roof of the building. The next moment, he was gone from Persephany's side. Lucas came out of the bedroom, looking like a tornado had hit.
"Necromancer," was all he got out as he looked up at the hole, his eyes wide with the rush of knowledge as to his father's whereabouts. Persephany spun where she stood, held a hand skyward and flew through the hole landing on the roof to see the old man facing off with another old man.
The roof reeked of death. Persephany watched as Wizard Jackson and the tall man in the long cloak faced off across the roof.
"Dialog"
The two stood for a second then in a blink were in a different position, then another, then another. They did not seem to move but their location was most definitely changing across the roof. Wizard Jackson started to tire just as Lucas poked his head out of the hole in the roof.
"I thought I knew you better than this, Robert." Jackson yelled across the roof.
"Well, everyone has to grow up some time, Edmund," the cloaked man, Robert, balled his hand into a fist, a dark beam shot forth and hit Edmund directly in the chest knocking him off the roof. Lucas screamed in rage from the hole and hit Robert off the roof with a well placed blast of sound. Persephany, watched as Lucas' dad fell from the roof and ran towards him and jumped off herself. Diving toward him, she quickly grabbed him with one arm and used the other to brace between their two fragile bodies and the rapidly approaching cement below.
The rush of air from her outspread fingers formed into a thick air bag that they landed on and softly deflated lowering them completely to the ground. Persephany withdrew her arm, jumping up, yelled at the man on the street, "AMATUER MY ASS!"
Lucas stuck his head over the ledge. "Are you two alright??'
"Yeah We'll be fine." They headed back up to the apartment to survey the damage and it really didn't look good. The windows were broken as was the main door, there was a large whole in the ceiling and the bedroom looked like a tornado had hit it, breaking all that glass. Lucas emerged from his bedroom suddenly holding his shirt. He gave Persephany a serious look.
"It's gone. My pick is gone." His words were simple but caused her eyes to go wide.
"Gone? Oh shit…" She started to pace. Wizard Jackson looked very confused.
"Your necklace is gone?" He eyed Lucas very carefully.
"I really liked that pick. It was kinda lucky." Lucas turned and went back into the bed room, leaving Persephany standing with his father and ignoring him. Moments later he returned to the living room to put a piece of tape around his finger. "Maybe you should get a hotel room, dad; this place is gonna need some fixing. I need to go check something."
They arrive at Hanna's house quickly and Lucas walks right up to the door to have Hanna open it before he could even knock. "Nate's gone." He said without preamble.
Tracking spell to martin
Head to bridge
Enter martins place
Will exchange Nate for night with someone
Or item of power
Adam shows up before getting out
Will drop one dog if steph gets him Nate
Head back to Lucas dad has problem with Jim
Has fixed apartment
Marcus, Lucas and Persephany rolled into the parking lot at the Cemetery and were greeted by a heavy fog hanging over the entirety of the fenced in area. As the car stopped the fog began to roll out toward them. Once it had surrounded the car, the car began to move towards the fence.
"Bail out!" Lucas shouted and all three jumped from the car and into the fog. There was a sudden pressure in Persephany's mouth and she could no longer breath. Luckily at the same time Lucas cast a wind that cleared a small circle, revealing the fog figure with its arm down her throat. Taking a second she conjured a heavy gust that she exhaled forcing the form out of her, giving her the ability to breath again. There was a sudden crunching noise as the car got pulled over the packing barrier and into the fence, crushing it into the iron structure.
A break in the fog led into the cemetery, as a child like voice called out, "You should come in." The three exchanged a look and headed into the cemetery. They heard running behind them and looked to find Hanna cutting quickly through the fog. She solemnly joined the group and head continued to follow the path in the fog. It led them to a small building near the center of the cemetery. Every now and then Persephany would see something out of the corner of her eye, movement, a figure, something. She grabbed onto Lucas' shirt from behind and held on with both hands trying hard not to give in to the fear she was feeling.
Marcus opened the door and walked in, followed by Lucas, Persephany then Hanna. Inside they found a sparse room with a bed, table, chair, and a doll sitting next to a circle drawn on the floor.
"Do you want to play?" The doll asked. The time aged head lifted and one nail eye looked up at them
"Dialog"
The force of Lucas being moved so violently sent Persephany onto the bed hard. She got to her feet and started pulling her will to her. No one, human or inanimate object creepy doll thing, hurt her friends and got away with it. A dark substance began to rise up from between the floor boards and enclose the doll and raise it off the floor. Hanna sent a blast of will at it, the blackness receded partially but it lashed out at her again as yells from outside informed the pair how well the battle was going on the other front. Persephany froze and yelled "Ventas Servitas!" and unleashed her will letting lose a huge whirl wind inside the hut causing it to pick up from its foundation and spin before breaking apart from the force of the wind. The remaining zombies were either blown away by the wind or dropped because of the loss of their controller. The black that was making its way around Hanna was caught in the whirl wind and one lone tendril brushed against a long lock of black hair turning it a shocking snow white. When the wind had stopped, Persephany was breathing hard her hand still out before her and her hair was whipping around her of its own accord, the white strands almost glowing against the black.
"whoa, hey Persephany," Lucas got up from the ground and took a step towards her, "wow." She looked at him and had to look down. She was off the ground about 4 feet. Marcus was staring at her too. Suddenly Jim literally dropped from the sky onto the doll crushing it. He looked up at Persephany.
"Are you alright?" he asked her. She looked up into the tree she was standing next to and pointed at the very small Hanna hanging from one of the branches.
"Marcus?"
"Yeah I'll get her," He jumped half way up then to her and brought her back down carefully.
"where'd daddy go? Have you seen him?" The small voice cam from behind Jim. There was a small blue figure of a girl she looked maybe nine years old and very alone. "he said he was going to be right back. But it got dark." Persephany took a step towards the girl. "He left me this doll but he said he was going to come back. Then I heard some weird talking outside, it got dark. Why did it get dark?" Persephany's heart broke. The girl's father was the necromancer. It was Robert. And he had done this to his own daughter willingly. From behind the group a tall figure in a black cloak walked up to the girl. Death pulled a lollipop out of his pocket and held it out to her.
"He's a good guy, you can go with him," Persephany told the girl. She took the sucker and Death held out a hand for her to take. She took it and they walked off into a shining blue light. Out of no where, Martin walked up to the doll on the ground and picked it up.
"Well this is no good without the spirit inside it." He turned it over in his hand. Persephany walked up to him almost nose to nose.
"What?" she snarled.
"This would have worked for a trade if the spirit was still in it but without it its just junk." Hanna walked up this time.
"Put it down." Her voice was hard.
"You know I have been looking for something you might have seen. A small silver coin. Know where I can get one?" His eyes glinted merrily.
"Put it down now." Martin did as he was told and Hanna blasted it with a jolt of fire burning it through.
"Well maybe we can work out an arrangement of company then? I'm still open to that idea." He looked over the group, his eyes stopped on Marcus, " any body will do. Back in the old days anything was okay." Hanna stepped up again.
"I'll go." The group's collective jaw dropped.
"WHAT?"
"No, I don't think so."
"I'm going." Hanna said firmly. Martin held out his hand and they both disappeared. Persephany seethed and turned to the tree Hanna had been up. With a scream she reduced the 3 foot diameter trunk into tooth pick, exploding them out into the surrounding area. The tree crashed to one side. Lucas jumped back as Persephany stalked off, as she walked past him, he heard a muttered comment about no proper burial as she stomped past. Jim started after her. He cast Lucas a glance over his shoulder.
Lucas just shook his head, knowing what she was going through, "She's got a lot to learn about our world," he called at her back. She stopped dead in her tracks and spun, stomping back to him. She only came up to his chin but she did not care. She stopped inches away from him.
"One, Martin will never have a soul like that. Two, I not sure I will ever understand Hanna. Three, How can you do that to a child let alone your own daughter and four,… " the steam seemed to have run out and the tears were shining in her eyes, " we can't even give her a proper burial. If this is our world, I don't think I want to learn," she turned from him and began walking again, her shoulders lower and shaking slightly.
The walk back into town felt much longer than it was and the group arrived at Lucas' apartment in silence. They had barely been seated a minute when there was a loud knock on the door. Lucas pulled him self out of his seat and headed to the door.
"Yes?"
"I have an invitation requesting your presence as a duel to the death between Hanna ______ and Nate ____ at the.. "
"WHAT?" there was a grabbing sound and Lucas slammed the door, ripping an envelop open. "Oh gods, Hanna is going to fight Nate to the death using magic…."
Either way, we lose," Persephany looked up at Lucas, who nodded.
Butler for martin comes
Invite to fight to death by magic
Persephany calling Adam to Lucas'
What is it pet
Clams up
Lucas step up
Adam yell at
Step steps up pain
Jim jumps start of light
Step yells and explains
Head to martins
Nate had guitar and Lucas pick
Hanna has godfathers sword
Soul gave.. you are going to kill me
Calls him to take Nate out
He and martin fight
Run Adam stops
Hanna will give Nate if he remove debt from step
No leaves
Shakinghead to jims house
Shoe wanton hoe eight Friday
Persephany sat straight up in bed with a mouth full of eggs staring at Jim. "I can understand if you don't want to…" she slowly nodded yes with the fork still in her mouth. "Oh, Okay well then I'll pick you up at seven." He quickly got up and vacated the room, leaving Persephany to her breakfast better than anything she had seen in the dorms. She finished the food slowly and tried to wrap her head around the fact that she was one, going on a date with Jim and two more important to Adam than avenging his dead son. Both thoughts made her shiver for two very different reasons. It was nearly a full hour before she was able to walk down stairs and face both Jim and Marcus.
"Should we go see if everyone still has their heads." Jim said as she came down the stairs. Her eyes grew large and she ran for the door, pausing just long enough to grab her jacket. They got in the large truck and Jim tried to start the vehicle, it would not even roll over. After the fifth try, there was a large pop. Jim sighed and got out, Persephany got out and tried to calm down by walking around in the cool air. Jim dug around in the engine and pulled out a spark plug.
"Marcus, could you go find another one of these in the garage?" The vampire took the small plug from Jim's hand and headed into the garage. He retuned with an identical plug and handed it to Jim, who inserted it into the engine block. "Wait," he got into the truck and turned it on then invited the other two to get it. The ride to Hanna's house was short and silent. When they arrived, Persephany jumped from the car and ran towards the house to be greeted by Hanna at the door.
"There is no blood on the lawn… "
"Lucas joined the White Council." Hanna stated bluntly.
"WHAT??"
From inside the house, "Hanna, did you tell her?" Lucas called.
"Yeah." Persephany stalked into the house and came to a sharp stop in front of Lucas, arms crossed over her chest.
"You joined those uppity self righteous bastards!?"
"It was the only way I could save Nate's neck and mine."
"Still an uppity bastard…" Persephany walked to a couch and dropped into it.
"yeah and it's only going to get worse. I'm an apprentice now so the council is going to be sending someone to be my master, so I'm going to be stuck with that till who know's when." Lucas dropped into a seat on the other couch when there was a knocking on the door, Hanna walked over to it.
"Oh, we weren't expecting you so soon."
"I'm looking for Lucas Jackson." Persephany jumped from her seat and ran into the bathroom. The voices were fainter as she sat quietly. She knew the presence of another White Council would make doing anything much more difficult. All she wanted to do was stay under the radar and all she seemed to be doing was making more waves and much more noise to be noticed with. Footsteps cam close to the bathroom and a voice rang out, "Where is the bathroom?"
"There is one upstairs," Hanna offered. As the footsteps headed up the stairs, she ran from the bathroom and into the basement, soon followed by Jim. They sat in the basement in silence waiting for a slam of the door which took merely moments. Once the door slammed they headed back up stairs where Persephany dropped onto the couch with a sigh. It had been a long night of drinking and then some interesting developments.
"This is going to make things hard…" Persephany shook her head and walked out.
The next few days actually passed uneventfully. She was able to go to work and spend some time doing some extra magical practice at her dorm. Thursday finally rolled around and an e-mail went out proclaiming a set being played by Hank at Paddy O'Neils. Another full day of work at Last Chance Gaming and Persephany gratefully headed to the Alex Johnson and into the small bar situated underneath it.
As she walked in she saw Hanna sitting at the bar and with a heavy sigh of relief walked over to her. She saw Lucas standing and jittering next to the stage where Hank Harris was running through a set. Persephany dropped on to a stool and smiled at the bar tender.
"Can I get you something?"
"Small with a lot of alcohol." There was a small flurry of motion and a tiny shot glass was set in front of her.
"ID." The bar tender held his hand out. She dug around for a bit and pulled out her ID and handed it to the man, who returned it in short order. She took the shot and threw it back hard. He watched her and then set another in front of her. In short order there were 9 small shot glasses on the table being arranged into designs. Persephany turned and saw Peck in Hanna's lap and the little bitch was mouthing off again. Words had no meaning but the tiny humanoid thing had drunk Hanna's beer then had stolen her popcorn. She picked up the empty popcorn bowl and tried to slam it on the pixie. Hanna saw her and intercepted. She turned and saw Lucas on stage playing with Hank. Him being on stage looking so happy made her smile. Then she noticed Hanna was looking at the door and took that moment to drop a shot glass on Peck's head. Bull's eye.
"What the hell happened to you?" Hanna didn't shout but her voice held that motherly you look hurt tone to it. Persephany turned and saw Marcus was bloody and looking rather bad. The music came to an end and Lucas came over.
"There were vampire hunters and they almost got me."
"Are you all right?"
"Yeah they weren't nearly man enough to take me down."
"We better get behind a threshold." Hanna put a very drunk Peck into her pocket and Lucas helped Persephany out the door and back to Hanna's. The run was full of colorful language from a very, very drunk Persephany who took this time to tell them how much she loved the color purple but not really.
"Shit I still have to rewrite that damn paper for Rune, Nate fucking copied mine."
"What's it on?" Hanna asked.
"Ancient Sumaria or something." Lucas shrugged.
"I never did like the summurinians," Persephany offered from the back seat. As they reached the large house that had served as a hiding hole and safe haven for far too many odd events, Persephany saw a woman quickly leaving from where Tim stayed within Hanna's house.
"HOLY FUCK!! TIM, HOW COULD YOU?!" Persephany yelled from the front walk. The group make it inside, Persephany still rambling on "OOOOHHHHHH oh… I can't believe he did that."
"Who did what? What are you talking about?" Hanna asked confused, as they walked into the living room. Tim was standing in the corner.
"Welcome back," he said then he saw Marcus," What happened to you?" Marcus just smiled a relaxed pleased smile.
"God, Tim, she's like a fucking baby and seriously, Tim, how could you in Hanna's house. I mean you don't even really live here. You are just a guest and you are knocking boots in her guest room." Persephany's mouth continued to run as far away as it could and ran directly into Hanna.
'You WHAT?" Tim turned an amazing shade of pink that was actually very familiar to Persephany.
"Umm so why does Marcus look beat up?" Tim tried to turn the conversation somewhere else.
"He met up with some mercenaries and they almost got him." Hanna supplied as she pushed Persephany on to the couch. Tim turned another shade of pink as he headed for the bathroom.
"You might not want to sit on that blanket." The door shut as Persephany pulled the blanket out from underneath her and then threw it at the shut door.
"That is just gross! Did you have to do it on her couch?" Hanna turned at that and headed down to the basement taking Lucas with her to work on researching this paper he had to finish in triplicate before morning.
Persephany took the next several hours to explain to Tim in detail the necessity for wearing a condom and how to use one. "Really it isn't hard to put one on. You have to make sure that you hold the little tip before unrolling it. You can even get those ribbed for her pleasure ones they seem to really work. If Hanna has a banana I can show you how to do it," Persephany when truly drunk seemed to lose all volume control and was yelling loud enough for Tim to hear her in the bathroom and Hanna and Lucas to here her in the basement.
After the first hour of explaining the need for safe sex, Persephany turned her attention to the different ways to have sex, detailing the use of rope, toys, and other things. "Just make sure that if you use rope you don't get any of that hemp crap or nylon. You have to stick with good silk rope, While it leaves marks it won't cut the skin." Moving on, she headed into the different position which was when the small voice next to the couch made its presence known.
"You said that already." The small pixie voice came from just out of sight, sitting in the shadow of the arm. Persephany leaned over and looked down to see Peck sitting with a tiny pad of paper writing furiously.
"You're taking notes??" Persephany tilted her head to the side a bit surprised. The pixie only nodded. "And I already said that one huh?"
"Yep."
"Well what about if you rotate ninety degrees?"
"Nope that's a new one." She nodded and continued on her tirade until she finally drifted into a rather fitful sleep.
Morning never really came for Persephany as she slept through most of the day, thanks in part to the alcohol and in part to honest exhaustion. When consciousness did arrive, it was nearly three in the afternoon.
"Ow.. ow.. what day is it?" She asked the room. From the opposite couch she heard, "Friday." An arm flung over her head and groaned loudly to the couch. The vampire made some self satisfying sound and there was the sound of footsteps.
"What is wrong with Persephany?" Hanna's voice was loud in Persephany's still drunk ears.
"Oh she has a date with Jim, I think. Well when you went to see the council he took her breakfast and then there was a lot of embarrassment. Then he finally came down and told me not to say anything. She came down and was tweaked out, not like that's anything new, and then we headed over to see you and Lucas. So I can only really assume." Persephany had run to the bathroom and slammed the door half way through Marcus explaining the situation. From in side, she heard a light pair of footsteps walking to the bathroom.
"Persephany," Hanna said as she tried to open the door but Persephany had lodged herself between the door and the sink, making opening nearly impossible. "She's jammed the door.'
"You know I'd do the same thing if I had a date with Jim," The sound of Tim's voice came through the door clearly and raised the hair on the back of Persephany's neck. That was it. That was going to be the last time any fucking White Council member said anything bad about Jim.
The door swung open and Persephany launched herself at Tim, tackling him to the ground. She swung her arm hard into the side of Tim's head, clubbing him hard. "YOU ARROGANT LITTLE COCK SUCKER, YOU KNOW JACK SHIT ABOUT THE FUCKING WORLD AND NEED TO BE TAUGHT A FUCKING LESSON! GOD DAMN WHITE COUNCIL ASS HATS WHO HAVE FUCKING SUPERIORITY COMPLEXES THAT COME WITH THE FUCKING TITLE." She continued to swing her arms, cuffing him in the head until suddenly the world spun and she lay on her belly with her arms twisted behind her back. Tim was kneeling over her.
"What the HELL? I was trying to make a joke, not a slight on Jim. I would have said the same thing if Hanna was going out with Lucas."
"Ew. Lucas, seriously." Hanna walked past. Tim got up, releasing Persephany who stayed face down on the floor for a second more. She got to her feet and walked out the door, anger still boiling lightly to be greeted by a black van sitting across the street from Hanna's house. Her shoulders dropped, sensing this was probably a very bad thing. She walked back to the dorm and locked herself in the room. There had been a fizzing popping sound as she had entered the building. There was going to be hell to pay when this wing realized the internet, power, or heat was out. Again. She looked at the clock. There was time to get ready for this date thing. She took a shower, washed her hair, ran a comb through it and found something relatively clean and nice to wear. The black dress pants worked well with dark blue long sleeved shirt. The shirt wasn't low cut but it wasn't exactly modest either. She sat in her dark room and waited.
It was about an hour later when she heard a loud set of foot steps then a heavy hand on a wooden door on the other end of the hall.
Knock, knock, knock. "Is Persephany here? Oh. Sorry." Footsteps.
Knock, knock, knock. "Is Persephany here? Oh. Sorry." Footsteps.
Knock, knock, knock. "Is Persephany here?" She opened her door to see Jim standing down the hall way. He looked down the hall and saw her head sticking out of her door way like a cartoon. "Never mind." He rushed down the hallway to her door looking minutely pink. "Do you like steak?" She nodded slowly. "Okay, oh. Here." He held out a fresh bouquet of flowers. "Oh do you have a vase? You probably don't have a vase. I should have thought of that. Damn it." She waited for him to stop to pull the vase within arms reach of the door into view. "Oh. Great." He set the flowers in it. Persephany looked down the hall way and saw numerous heads sticking out doors looking at the very tall man. She grabbed Jim and hauled him into her room.
"Just stay here while I fill this." She took the vase into the bathroom and began filling it with cold water. Apparently she was a bit nervous as the water that was nice and cool suddenly scalded her hand. "Damn it." She took the vase and flowers back into her room, shaking her slightly burned hand. Finding a place for the flowers took a second but she cleared enough space, then grabbed her coat. "Ready." Jim smiled and headed to his truck. He stopped her a few yards away so he could get in and start it before she was too close. The ride to the steak house was long and awkward. Both tried to make conversation and it failed miserably for both, dissolving into silence. Once as they drove, Persephany tried to start up conversation and just gave up. Next to them a car's engine exploded and began to slow down.
"It's not my truck. It's not my truck," Jim repeated quietly to himself. They arrived at the Steak house and Persephany saw the wait at the door. They were going to be here for ever. But Jim just walked up to the door and held out a hand to her, bringing her into the warm building. They were sat at a table in the dimly lit dinning room. The waitress came and took their orders, which was just how they wanted their steaks cooked and what they wanted to drink. As they sat Persephany finally began to relax and actually enjoy herself. As they sat, she let her eyes sweep the room to see Robert and a very familiar man sitting at a table with what looked like a decent group of goons. The familiar man was wearing a white suit and it took a moment for her to remember that he was the man all those months ago that offered her and Lucas a ride in his limonene. Lucas had refused with a kind of ferocity that had scared her at the time and he had explained it with one word. Vampire. He saw her and raised a glass to her from across the room. Jim slid his chair back, his eyes growing dark. Jim pushed his chair away from the table and she grabbed his hand and pulled him back to it.
The vampire and the necromancer were having dinner together. TOGETHER. Persephany sat up a little taller as a waiter arrived with a tall glass of champagne. "Compliments of the gentleman." He pointed at the table she had been watching. The man in the white suit nodded at her and raised his glass again taking a slow drink from it. She felt Jim push back from the table again as the glass touched the table. She grabbed his hand and pulled him back to the table once more.
"No. You can't no.. no.. no… " Persephany's ability to speak was quickly leaving but she knew she had to explain to Jim exactly what was going on. Making slow motions she indicated the table with the two. "Can't no. Necromancer and vampire. Have to leave. Have to get out now." Jim's eyes widened in understanding and alarm. He flagged down the waitress and got the bill, who looked very confused but got them the bill. Persephany grabbed her coat as Jim shouldered his on and they headed for the door.
Standing between them and freedom was the man in the white suit. He smiled at them as they slowed, stopping a few feet away from him. "I'm sorry, I hope I did not mean to upset your evening," he said with a smile.
"No… no.. I'm uhh ummm "Persephany grasped around for words that didn't sound completely lame, "I'm not feeling well." The man's expression turned sympathetic though the expression did not reach his eyes.
"My sympathies, hopefully you will feel better," He reached out his hand to Persephany who stiffened and backed up into Jim.
"I'm sorry we really have to go." Persephany grabbed Jim and pulled him outside into the cold air. They hurried toward Jim's truck and only made it half way. There was a rush of air behind them and Jim staggered next to her. Persephany reached for him and helped him down to find a steel dart sticking out from his back. She only got a moment to look around herself before a second dart imbedded itself into her thigh. The world suddenly grew very dark and quiet.
There was something cold and hard under Persephany's cheek. Upon closer inspection, which was mainly her opening her eyes she saw it was an unfinished concrete floor. She tried to get up and found that her hands had been handcuffed behind her back and that Jim was across the floor from her, was still passed out with a thick metal band around his neck that attached to a cuff around his one arm. There was a faint hiss which let Persephany know that the metal was cold iron. They were both missing jackets and shoes and Persephany realized she was missing her foci ring. She could see there was one person at the door and then heard footsteps coming towards the room.
"Have they been secured properly?" It was the voice of the vampire.
"Yes. I have removed the witch's rings and other jewelry and the fae has been bound in iron." The second voice was familiar somehow but she could not place it. The footsteps moved closer and the figured moved into the door frame. She quickly shut her eyes and tried not to look awake.
"I still think you should just kill them." The other man said.
"No they are bait for my son. Having his friends in danger should bring him too me."
"You could kill them and tell him they are still alive."
"True but I can think of better things to do to them than killing them out right."
"Thank you, Warden. It's so nice to have an expert when it comes to this." The vampire said. The pair walked off and Persephany's heart began to race. A wizard being changed by a vampire could only result in truly horrible things and the last thing she wanted was to be turned. Not to even mention what they might do to Jim. Heart racing, Persephany made the choice between the lesser of two evils.
Digging her nails into her right palm and pressed the drops of blood onto the cement floor and called out softly but with Power, a single word.
"Adam."
She waited and there was a soft shimmer in a corner. A small mouse ran out of the corner straight for her face. It stopped a foot away and spoke softly, "My master is unable to enter this location due to boundaries that have been set up around it. What do you require?"
"Tell your master that if he wishes to keep me in his service he might want to do something. I am being held by a Vampire and a Necromancer that might well kill me. You tell him that." She tried to keep her voice soft and even but an edge of desperation began to color her words and bring tears to her eyes. Talk about a rock and an endless abyss. The mouse nodded, then turned back towards the wall scurrying away. Persephany curled up and tried not to cry.
Time passed and sounds began filtering down the hallway. Gunfire? Running footsteps? All coming far too close. She tried to sit up, as the door was blown in and two people in body armor burst in and stopped just in the doorway. The noise was enough cause Jim to flinch and wake up. He looked confused and he grimaced in pain.
"Two in here. Humans."
"Get them clear." They approached quickly and stood up Persephany and Jim. The soldiers rushed the two outside, where Persephany turned on the person nearest her and let out a rush of wind that caused the person to scream and begin trying to cover their face. Just outside there was several hummers and about a dozen shapes in armor. There was a man with a mustache yelling at her. She started to turn away.
"Come this way, the wards must be coming back up. This way!" He began motioning and she saw Jim was being ushered that way. She turned and ran back towards him. They had begun trying to saw the cuff around his neck off and she could see the irritation around it getting worse.
"You have to get something in between the band and his skin!" She yelled as she got close. The man that had yelled at her looked at her oddly.
"Why, what's wrong with him?"
"Skin condition. He's allergic to the metal." She didn't look at him and stayed focus on Jim. They began stuffing material between the collar and his neck. The radio squawked and began giving reports about the assault inside the building.
"All remaining resistance has been eliminates" The man smiled, though the expression made Persephany uncomfortable.
"Good, all those freaks are dead." The word freaks had been dripping with an emotion that made her want to hide and not do magic for a while but she knew she needed to stay with Jim. Suddenly the radio squawked again.
"What the… Where did that dog come from? God it's huge! Stay back… STAY BACK… OH GOD WHAT IS THAT THING?? Fall back … fal back.. fall……" Static erupted from the small device and Persephany knew it had nothing to do with her.
"Units 3 and 4 head in to see what's happening. 5 and 6 stay ready here. 7 head around back." The man walked away again oblivious to both supposed humans they had just rescued. They never did get the collar cut off Jim and as she was about to see why both soldiers that were guarding them ran off. There was a hand on her arms and suddenly Hanna appeared next to her, Marcus was standing next to Jim. She gasps in relief.
"We have to go now!" Persephany whispered urgently. Hanna nodded.
"I know stay quiet and close." They began moving through the trees and quickly arrived at Hanna's car. They piled in, Jim behind Hanna, Persephany behind Marcus and drove to the freeway. Finally away from the house, the whole car seemed to relax.
The next few moment were a blur of motion as a rip in reality opened into the nevernever directly in front of Hanna's car. Adam jumped through the opening in complete centaur form and threw a flaming scythe directly down the middle of the car, cutting it in half. Both halves slid to a halt on either side of the large beast man. Lucas came out of the whole with a large pack of hunt dogs. A car drove by the stand off and was suddenly gone with a pounce of one of the large hunt dogs.
Adam wore gleaming armor upon his torso with large spikes at the shoulders and a large helm. He recalled the scythe to his hand and stared down and the car. "I will not be deprived of my servant!" His voice seemed to shake the earth and that was all it took for Persephany to leave this world for darkness.
Only moments later to her, she opened her eyes to see Jim at her side. Hanna was yelling at Adam and Persephany knew that was going to end badly. Lucas was standing out of the way with a good sized black bundle next to Rune and Nate.
"We saved her so you own a boon to me." Hanna insisted only making the large being angrier. Persephany got out of the car and walked up to the fray. Lucas nodded at her, his hands full of a black bundle. She went to him and he handed it to her.
"I tried to grab everything but I think I might have been beaten to some of it. You might want to really check was is there." He seemed to give her a close look as she dug through the bundle. She jacket, shoes, purse, necklace, and only 3 rings. Her foci ring was missing.
"Shit." She said softly as she replaced the rest of the items. Lucas nodded knowingly.
"Yeah our favorite little collector beat me by seconds." The last ring slipped into place and Hanna was still yelling at Adam about how they had saved her from the Vampire when something important flashed in her mind.
"Thank you, Warden. It's so nice to have an expert when it comes to this."
Persephany let out a little scream and grabbed the front of Lucas' shirt with both hands and pulled him down to her.
"It was a warden." The words were harsh and soft not wanting Rune to hear her. Lucas pulled back from her, his face a mix of confusion.
"What?"
"It was a WARDEN." She stressed the word apparently too hard as Hanna turned suddenly.
"What?" she echoed Lucas.
"The vampire was talking to someone about how he was going to lure his son and then thanked him for all his help, calling him warden as his did.. the guy even said that the vampire should just kill us but apparently there are better things to do then just death." The entire area when still and silent for a moment. Then Hanna tried again.
"Since we saved her from those forces you still owe us. All we ask is for safe passage to my home.
"No. I will grant that only to her. You may follow but anything that befell you would not be my concern." Adam looked pointedly at Persephany. "I owe you nothing."
"Hanna just don't.." Persephany said. This was going to go nowhere. Her shoulders dropped and she turned away from the group and started walking down the road, needing to move and get away from that place.
"Fine, I will escort you through the Nevernever." She stopped and turned. Adam looked annoyed and frustrated but he seemed to understand the danger of this group walking down the side of the road.
The walk to Hanna's house was short but Persephany did not seem to notice as they arrived on the sidewalk in front. The nevernever zipped closed behind them and they all headed into the house. Tim was waiting for them.
"What happened??" he looked over the group concerned.
"The White court and the necromancer are working together and that is why my father wanted me to keep the white council busy." Marcus supplied smoothly. Tim's face grew dark.
"I better report this to the Council," he headed for the stairs and Persephany watched him listening carefully as he spoke but it was not the right voice. She could not take any more of this. She got up and started pacing the floor as he made his report and the rest of the group worked over what could be being planed by the two bad guys.
"….they don't seem to realize there is a traitor in their mist…." The words floated up the stares and Persephany stopped in her tracks at the top of the stairs. "… I don't thing they are telling me everything but I will keep a close eye on them…" The other side of the conversation was too faint to hear but it must have ended as Tim began up the stairs.
"Persephany what's wrong?" Hanna asked from the couch. There was a small whirl wind that had started around Persephany as she had been listening. Tim reached the fourth stair and looked up, directly into Persephany's eyes. She felt a jolt of pain and saw something she will never forget.
Tim was standing amidst the sounds of battle, he looked to be nine or ten years old. He was holding a sword double his height and triple his weight. A shadow would fall over him and he would try to swing the too big blade at it only to stumble and nearly fall. His eyes looked burdened and afraid but he held his ground even as the sounds of battle grew closer.
Then she was on the ground and could hear a scream from down the stairs and the sound of a body falling. The world was spinning and all sound began to mush together.
"Areyoualllllright?" that was Lucas. She looked up then away not wanting to catch his eyes.
"yeah… just a minute…." She grabbed his arms. There was a solid arm around her waist and she was lifted and set on a soft couch. Jim sat next to her and she leaned into him shaking. Hanna finally got Tim up the stairs and on to the opposing couch.
"What happened?" Jim asked.
"That my dear Bridgewater was a soul gaze." Hanna answered as she turned to look at Tim. "It is what happens with two humans lock eyes, they get a look at each other's souls. Hey Tim…" Hanna shook the smaller man slightly. His head rolled off to one side
"It wasn't him." Persephany said softly. "He wasn't there, he's not guilt." Lucas, Hanna Jim, and Marcus looked at her but she was looking intently at her lap, her long black hair covering her face. She was fidgeting with the one lock of white.
"Hey Tim…"Hanna shock him a bit harder, and he slowly slumped over on to the couch.
"I better get back, Master will be wanting his tea," Lucas headed for the door and a few steps out felt a pull on the back of his coat. He turned to find Persephany standing behind him with one hand grabbing tightly to the material.
"can I come with you?" the words were very soft. Lucas looked up to see Jim a few steps behind her looking at him expectantly.
"Sure, it'll be tight but you are welcome at my place," He started forward again and the feeling of the hand never let go. The walk was short and one of the few that felt safe to Persephany, as they reached Lucas' building he stopped and turned to Jim.
"This is my home and regardless of the problems my father has with you, you are welcome by me." He headed up the stairs and was met by Rune who looked very red in the cheek. Persephany found a chair in a corner and dropped into is staying as small and hidden as she could. Lucas walked off to talk to his parents and Rune came over to take drink orders.
"Water," Jim answered for both of them. Persephany decided not to argue. She sipped her water until there was a ringing of a phone prompting Lucas to emerge from his bedroom and answer it.
"Jackson residence."
"No, I was in a different room when it happened so I couldn't be sure who did it."
"If I knew for certain I would probably tell you."
"I'm sure Tim will be fine."
"Look I didn't do it so back off."
"Fine a half hour and the Alex Johnson." He looked at the phone pulling it away from his ear. "Good talking to you too ass." He hung it up hard. "Whelp Mickelson is calling a meeting at the Alex Johnson in a half hour and was demanding to know what happened to Tim, I guess Hanna told him something was up." Persephany walked up to him and leaned against the counter.
"You're going to get into more trouble if you don't tell him who did it aren't you?" she asked softly. He shrugged uncomitally.
"I'm coming with, I don't want you to get into any more trouble because of me."
Lucas looked over at Jim who was sitting in next to the chair Persephany and been sitting in. "Well , I'm not going to stop you but he might." He motioned at Jim, who stood and walked over.
"I go where she goes." He stated simply.
"Okay," was the only response Lucas gave. He walked over to his father and Rune and explained the situation, all three men returned to the living room with robes. Wizard Jackson had on a color robe, while Rune's robe was maroon, and Lucas was struggling into an old brown robe.
"This thing smells like the last guy who wore it died in it!" Lucas made a face as he got the garment seated properly.
"You know they might have," Rune joked. Persephany looked at the men in their long robes and pulled her long black jacket a bit tighter around herself.
"At least I won't look too out of place," she said to Lucas. The group headed to the Alex Johnson and was greeted at the door by men wearing long wool gray cloaks. One held up a hand and stepped in front of the group.
"And who do you think you are bringing with you Jackson? You were just inducted into the White Counsel, what makes you so bold?" The man's voice was hard and sharp. This must be the asshole. Persephany took a step in front of Lucas and said quietly, "I did it." Which was apparently not enough information. The man's hand went to the hilt of a large sword that hung from his belt.
"You did what?" he said slowly, the voice now dangerous.
"Back off Mickleson, she was the one that soul gazed Warden Tim and knocked him out for a bit," Lucas said stepping between them.
"Give me your hand," Mickleson demanded. He held out his right hand expecting hers in return but she held her hand to her chest, not wanting him to see the mark her debt to Adam had left. From behind, a clear voice rang out, "He's fine!" Hanna walked up steering Tim ahead of her. He looked a little out of it still and his eyes got a little bigger when he saw Persephany standing there but he was moving.
"Give me your hand," Mickleson demanded again. Hanna let go of Tim, walked up to Persephany and grabbed her hand. She pushed it into the tall man's hand and there was a rushing sensation. Persephany snatched her hand back as Mickleson looked her over carefully.
"Just an aeromancer, some power but not much else. Yeah she can come it but him," he looked up at Jim.
"As a member of the Summer Court, I have full fight to be here," Jim stepped next to Persephany. Mickleson sneered at him as Hanna stepped along him Jim.
"I also call on the accords giving him full right into the preceding as a member of the Summer Court and White Counsel."
"You have to pick one." The warden snarled.
"No, I claim both." Hanna smiled smoothly at him.
"Fine get in we are going to close the circle," there was a frighteningly familiar cadence in his voice and Persephany's eyes went wide. Just inside the doors she grabbed Lucas and spun him around.
"It's him," she was trembling as she looked back over her shoulder at the man in the gray wardens rode named Mickleson. "It was him."
"Easy, easy. Just sit down." Lucas guided her to a chair and took the one next to is leaving Jim the one between Persephany and Hanna as she got to the group.
"I call this meeting to order.
"Dialog"
"You're the traitor! You broke the seventh law!" Hanna yelled as the room broke into chaos. The windows exploded in and several canisters fell to the floor spewing smoke of some kind. Then a herd of vampires came crashing through the windows and dropped to the floor. They all looked like some kind of leathery bat human mix and very pissed off. Hanna faced off with mickleson and began to wrap him up using the potted plants in the room as Lucas ran at Persephany. She stood from her chair and looked at him levelly and said softly, "Ventas Servitas" as the air began to swirl around her quickly. He stopped and turned to blast a Vampire that was getting to close. Hanna was yelling her spells working to keep the corrupt warden encased in vines as he screamed in some unknown language.
Persephany held out her arms as she again lifted off the ground and screamed with the wind as it ripped the flesh from the bones until the skeletons of the vampires stood out against the fine wall paper. From somewhere behind her, she heard Tim screaming something about 'the power' and she caught her reflection in one of the few not destroyed windows. The wind had whipped up dust and smoke creating a pair of large ragged but imposing wings, her hair few out at back from her almost alive it self. She turned just in time to see a large black substance lash out from the viney cocoon and pass through half of Hanna's very changed body. Her hair was a living flame and she looked taller, thinner, and all together different. And that was all the more she could take, the strain of the spell sent her tumbling to the ground and the last thing she saw was Jims worried face looking down at her.
When she opened her eyes, she saw a tall half flame half ice woman walking away with a tall figure wearing a large helm with a huge set of antlers. Lucas was sitting on the ground his hands full of keys and other items and he just watched her walk away with the man. The rip in the nevernever they walked into sealed up behind them and those remaining just sat there dumb founded. It took a long time before everyone was able to get up and make sense of what had happened. Lucas went to check on his father, master, and brother while Tim walked up to Jim who was holding Persephany up with his one arm as she shook from exertion.
"I am sooo sorry for anything I have every said about you or any one you know," he shook himself as he spoke to her. Persephany just looked up at Jim and let her head fall against his very solid form.
"Let's go home. I think I just got a house." Lucas walked over still looking a bit confused but much more stable that the other two wizards following him. Jim more carried than supported Persephany as they headed to Hanna's old house.
Marcus was waiting when they walked in and looked at the group several times before asking the obvious question, "Where the hell is Hanna?"
"She made her choice," Lucas said simply, "and she gave her house to me." Jim took a passed out Persephany down into Hanna's old room and tucked her into the bed. He turned to see Lucas had followed him.
"If you wake her, I will kill you," Jim said softly as he sat down next to the bed. Lucas put his hands up passively and began to look at the different pictures around the room. There was a knock at the door causing Lucas to swing back out the door and up the stairs.
There was a loud yelling noise and enough racket to wake the dead.